Andrew Childs Named Co-Director of QuICS

Childs says he is determined to help the university make strides in the field of quantum information. "At QuICS, we will try to better understand the power of quantum computers, enabling revolutionary information processing technologies," Childs says. "Maryland is already a major player in quantum information, and through QuICS, we will grow into a leading center for quantum computer science."

QuICS is the latest addition to the university’s commitment to securing a leadership role in quantum computing and quantum information science. Officially launched in October, QuICS joins the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), a partnership between NIST and UMD, and the Quantum Engineering Center, a partnership between UMD and Lockheed Martin Corp.

Childs will share his leadership role at QuICS with Jacob Taylor, a NIST scientist and fellow in JQI.

Childs joined UMD from the University of Waterloo, where he was an associate professor in the Combinatorics & Optimization department and the Institute for Quantum Computing. After receiving his doctorate in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2004, he was a DuBridge Postdoctoral Scholar at the California Institute of Technology. He is a senior fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.